House, Senate override LePage budget veto

(NEWS CENTER) Maine lawmakers avert a state government shutdown as the House and Senate vote to override Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the state budget.

The vote in the House Wednesday was 114-34, surpassing the two-thirds support needed to override the veto. The Senate voted 26-9 to override.

LePage vetoed the budget on Monday in large part because it included temporary tax increases. The governor said after the override vote that the move will hurt Maine's efforts to improve the business climate. He called it "a sad day."

State government would shut have down if a budget was not in place by July 1. During the last government shutdown of 1991, state employees didn't get paychecks, courthouses closed and construction halted on the state's roads.

Late Wednesday, the Maine Senate also voted unanimously to override Gov. LePage's veto of an omnibus energy bill. The House had already voted to override that veto.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)